Coupla Things...

* First of all, I have a fantastic new site to share with you that I'm adding to my links on the right. It's called Mental_Floss, and it's billed as Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix. I highly encourage you to start checking out this site, as you can find stories about

! The Surprisingly Cool History of Ice
! 5 Drinking Stories That Put Yours To Shame
! Money For (Practically) Nothing
! 8 Fairy Tales And Their Not So Happy Endings

It's really a fantastic site, and I can't recommend it enough. Here's a tidbit from a list of ridiculous medical cures that I (and every man in the world) absolutely LOVED:

2. Lydia Pickham’s Vegetable Compound (Great for boozy housewives!)
Touted as one of the world’s first successful businesswomen, Lydia Pickham exploited her reputation as a local medicine woman to propel her herbal remedy into a commercial success, eventually grossing almost $400,000 yearly. The remedy claimed to cure all womanly ailments and weaknesses and sold for $1 a bottle. What was in the herbal remedy? Turns out, it contained less than 1% solid substance from vegetable extracts and almost 20% alcohol. If a woman took the suggested 1 tablespoon every 2-4 hours, she will have consumed 5 ounces of 13.5% or higher alcohol by the end of the day – more than enough for a healthy buzz that made life seem a bit more cheery to boozy housewives. When the Federal Trade Commission tightened its laws on claims made by medicines, Lydia Pickham’s Vegetable Compound had to swallow the restrictions with a spoonful of sugar.

Enjoy, and thank me later.

* I was thrilled to see that Harry Truman made the list of top five greatest presidents earlier this week. I've always felt that Truman was a fantastic President and doesn't get the respect he deserves. Here is one of the many great points about Truman: any person alive today who had a parent serve in WW2 owes Harry Truman their very existence. It's as simple as that.

* After reading this ridiculous list recently, you can bet on the triumphant return of the Top Ten Hottest List coming soon. I'm sorry it's been so long.

* Now I know you're all going to be shocked to find that this is right up my alley, but I think that this is one of the best dating ideas ever. I'm totally going on this if they have it in Dallas! Oh, right...sorry Kim ;-P

* In yet another sign of how ridiculous and polarized America has become, I read this gem. You know what the saddest part of this is to me? I've seen these signs, and my first thought was, "I wonder how long until I read in the Dallas Morning News that hippies are running around and stealing or vandalizing these signs." Look people, the guy was the President of the United States. You don't see me tearing down any Clinton signs and I can't stand his ass. If you can't at least show some respect for the former President, at least show some respect for people's personal property, and if you can't show respect for that, then guess what? I don't value your political opinion because you're just a fucking crook, so piss off with your statements.

On the bright side, what a great idea by that kid. He's got all the angles played: an idea that will have good demand, a good sympathetic story that makes people feel good about buying from him, and sharing some of the wealth to make people feel even better about buying. Excellent work Patrick Bibb.

* I find it funny that I'm posting this today; obviously I've had this for a coupla months so it's a little dated, but then the car companies when to Congress and said they needed even more money yesterday! Thanks you fucking morons for making this joke applicable again!


* I'll say this: when you list the states where a porn star could possibly win a Senate seat, Louisiana has to be in the top five, right? DEFINITELY read this article all the way through; if there was a Comedy Awards with categories like the Golden Globes (fuck the Oscars), then this article would win Double Entendre Article of the Year.

* I think it's been well established that I'm not a fan of Communist China. However, I have to give them props on the contaminated milk episode. Why? Because justice was served by executing the CEO and a few other managers. It's pretty straightforward, really: they knew they had a dangerous and contaminated product, they released it anyway to make a buck, simply hoping for the best, and it ended up killing several children. China acted swiftly, and justice was served. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen in America. It should happen, though, to the peanut guy. This man has intentionally killed at least 9 people. He deserves to go.

* Some politics: I'd like to (as usual, it seems) praise and scold our new President. I thought this quote about Republicans from his first public address was priceless:

"It's a little hard for me to take criticism from folks about this recovery package after they presided over the doubling of the nation's debt. I'm not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility."

That's priceless. I've discussed the current economic woes in detail before and won't do so again, but yes, for Republicans to sit there and scream "Nothing but tax cuts!" and then be surprised when they don't get there way is ludicrous. Gentlemen, you had your chance to stop this disaster for eight years. Instead, you decided not to take the political hit of starting a small recession to keep from having a big one, and now we're stuck in a big one. The people voted, and decided we needed to try something new. Like this plan or not (and I don't think it's great--any plan where you spend more and take in less isn't exactly sound logic to me, but hey, what do I know, I'm just a financial analyst--but I don't think it's as terrible as most people believe), you had your chance, and the people of this country decided to do something different. Obama's doing exactly what he promised to do during his campaign: go in there and spend money on a zillion different things. Live with it.

That being said, I do have a complaint for Obama, which I saw perfectly articulated in this WSJ article. Mr. President...cut the gloom and doom shit, please. We've discussed here before how the perception of the economy makes much of it's reality. Your constant doom and gloom forecasts aren't fucking helping. I understand you were doing it to get everyone behind your stimulus package so you could go spend a shitload of money on all of the things you're interested in. I get that. But now that it's passed, I want that to stop, and I want it to stop right now. You can't expect Consumer Confidence to go up when you're constantly calling for doom and gloom. I'm not saying that you should say that this will be fixed in a year, but start mixing the positivity you showed during your campaign about the economy. Here's a simple fact about any economic system in the world: in order for it to get better, people must THINK it will get better. Start encouraging them to think that way. Remember your own words: have the audacity of hope.

* One last political thing: I saw the Secretary of State, the one, the only, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Good Morning America the other day. She was also spouting out Obama's economic gloom and doom forecast.

Now Hillary, I'd like to be as diplomatic as possible about this, so here are my thoughts/advice to you on the subject of economics:

SHUT THE FUCK UP.

I don't fucking want to hear you chime in about the economy Hillary. First of all, one of the biggest reasons we're in this situation is because of the Subprime Mortgage Disaster, which YOUR FUCKING HUSBAND started back when he was President. As an aspiring politician who was undeniably helping him run the country back then, I hold you responsible for that. So please, don't sit there and fucking gloom and doom us, as that isn't helping, it's just making worse the mess you started. Second of all, you're the Secretary of State. DO YOUR FUCKING JOB. I want your focus to be external. I want you to get governments to stop supporting terrorists. I want you to bring peace to distraught nations. I want you strengthening the relationships we have with our allies. I think it's safe to say that there are plenty of problems going on in the world today that the SoS doesn't need to be sticking their nose in other concerns of the government. You were not elected President Hillary. Go do your job.

Sorry. That's about as diplomatic as I could be.

* Finally, the NBA has reached it's midpoint and is approaching the Trade Deadline (Thursday). Here are various thoughts on various subjects throughout the association:

# The Marion for O'Neal deal was incredibly exciting...four years ago. Now, it's just two washed up veterans switching spots. I think Miami got the better talent from the deal (due to securing Jamairo Moon as well), though I think I would rather have let Marion's contract expire at season's end then get harnessed with O'Neal's bad deal.
# I cannot wait for Carlos Boozer to go into free agency and find that no one is willing to give him any big money. Sometimes there is justice in the world.
# Dude...Phoenix is not trading Amare Stoudamire. But New Jersey will trade Vince Carter.
# I've got bad news for the Rockets: TMac is D-U-N done, and no, it's not fake. I remember watching him the first game of the season: he got the ball about 12 feet out, threw a headfake that the defender TOTALLY bit on, went to blow by him for an easy dunk...and just couldn't move. It was like watching a guy in slow motion. It's sad, but his great athleticism has finally run it's course, and there's nothing he nor you can do about it.
# I cannot believe the Hornets just traded Tyson Chandler for Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. What a give up by the Hornets, one of the most promising teams of the next few years. Shame on them.
# Shaq, trying to get back to the Lakers is ridiculous. You look like a buffoon. Just stop it.
# There are few people in this world more overrated than Nate Robinson.
# Lebron James will win his first NBA championship this season.
# I continue to be proud of this Mavericks team. If you told me that at the All Star break they would be 10 games over .500 and basically one win out of fourth place, I would have been thrilled. Even though this team is not as close to being as talented as the Mavs of the last five years, this continues to be a team that plays above it's talent level almost every night. Good for them.

Long term, though, my assessment remains the same: I hope Howard, Kidd, and Stackhouse are all shipped the next two days, and the rebuilding process begins with hope for a championship in three years.

As always...the NBA continues to be FANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTASTIC!